The Snow Globe
by NerdHearts
Summary: When the Doctor tosses his fate to the wind, he meets up with another group of outcast wanderers. But strange new episodes with the Reavers lead them to an otherworldly conclusion about the Alliance. Zoe, still grieving for her husband, finds herself understanding the sadness behind the stranger's eyes.
1. Ch 1, Ordinary Strangeness

**Picks up around half a year after the events on the movie Serenity. Will later include the 10th Doctor (the brown coat has too many possibilities to pass up on) shortly after the events of _Runaway Bride_ , prior to the events in _Smith and Jones_. First story on this forum!**

Mal sat in the co-pilot seat, not that he was doing anything. Jayne and Zoe leaned against his seat. It was loud enough with only the two of them, no wonder he hadn't invited the rest! River was there too of course, but he trusted her not to interfere unless she picked up something life-threatening in their future. For the moment at least, she was focused on the controls of Serenity, currently orbiting Whitefall.

"We need the money. We've got to take the job! I ain't seen a credit since 'fore Miranda!" Mal itched his neck. He hated it when Jayne agreed with him. Showed he was getting too damn desperate.

"I don't like it sir."

"You heard the man Zoe. We need the money. Besides, the thing with Badger was ages ago. And it was him what offered the job."

"Sir, no offense intended, but when has siding with Jayne ever resulted in anything good? It's just, our heads are on every wall in the system, it ain't safe to make a deal with someone we don't trust."

"And remind me Zoe, who do we trust? Exactually, if we don't take risks we don't eat. So don't talk to me about 'safe'!" He felt bad, yelling at Zoe, especially when she was pregnant. Made him damn twitchy, his first mate carrying something _inside_ her He almost laughed at himself for that, he should know better. Zoe could handle herself, and he'd learned long ago to respect that. Men who didn't were liable to find holes in their feet.

"Fine. What does our little genius say?" He swung himself up, striding over to lay a hand his newest pilot. She shrugged,

"It doesn't matter. He'll find us. The Storm is coming. And the baby wants to go." She pointed at Zoe's protruding stomach. Mal wasn't sure what to make of that.

"See? Can't go arguing with unborn babies." Zoe smirked. Mention of the baby made her happy.

"Fine sir. Don't come running n' tell me when he shoots ya." River interrupted. She was getting that glazed look, like something nonsensical was 'bout to come out. Like Miranda.

"The Storm!" She shrieked "He's coming." And with that, she left the room, leaving its other three inhabitants to mull over the ominous sentence.

Mal sat in the cockpit. The others had left, and he had set course for Ariel. The Storm. It didn't sound good, and Mal knew from experience that things that caught River's attention, particularly those she bothered to share tended towards the disastrous. She didn't say things like that quite so often, not since Miranda. Simon didn't have to medicate her at all anymore, and about 98% of what came out of her mouth was coherent. It was the sudden relapse to her old demeanor that frightened him the most. Perhaps he should check with Simon? He resolved to do so later, but a he knew a conversation with the young doctor would only irk him further. He needed to go find Inara.

Inara tossed her arm over the couch. The room, while still the most sophisticated thing nearly anyone on board had ever seen, had fallen into disrepair, in Inara's eyes. While the bed and everything else remained elaborately draped in all types of expensive fabric, if you looked closely, some of the most beautiful (and valuable) golden knicknacks that had so fascinated her clients had disappeared, and her wardrobe, while still exquisite, had many fewer options. "Come in." She knew from experience that Mal would continue to stomp around like an elephant until she let him in. "What's the matter?" "Nothing, no, nothing, just looking for a chat with my favourite whore." She rolled her eyes. She knew he enjoyed their little spats as much as she. Their relationship had improved recently, but she knew he would only seek her out if something was bothering him.

"Oh don't play Mal. What's wrong?" He shuffled his feet some more. She was tiring of this, about to press more when he answered.

"It's River. She doing that prophecy thing again. It felt good, at Miranda, being some big damn hero, but I don't think I can do it again. Last time, we lost Wash, the Shepherd. I almost lost you. God, if I believed in you, I'd pray we don't have to face something like that again." Sweet. Mal was always sweet, at the heart of it. She smiled at him, stretched her hand into his.

"We'll get through this," she smiled, "Promise." For a minute he smiled back. Then his lip curled and he turned away. It was too late though. He'd already set her heart a flutter.

He hurried down the hall. He stared at his hand, all too aware of where she had touched him.


	2. Ch 2, Washed Up

_The Doctor sighed. The TARDIS sighed with him. There was no one to see him shed a tear, so he did so. Just one, then he was done. He tried to tell himself it was no loss, the girl was dumb, nothing more, but still, something about her had caught his eye. And, he had to admit, he was lonely. At least he had his old girl, the TARDIS. He ran his fingers over her, felt her unhappiness in tune with his own. "Send me somewhere. Somewhere I can be useful." He liked being useful, it was a temporary fix to his emptiness. He knew this was how druggies felt, but he didn't care. He told himself that as long as human-kind existed, it would need a Doctor. While this was true, he and the TARDIS knew the real reason he helped the worlds was a need to, just for a moment, feel useful, a necessity even. And besides, the hairless little monkeys were simply fascinating. The TARDIS was sending him someplace. He was glad, feeling like a druggie with a hallucination just on the horizon._

Zoe sighed. She hated being pregnant. Sure, having a baby was exciting, she looked forward to that part. Maybe he'd have Wash's smile, hopefully he wouldn't grow Wash's mustache. It wasn't even the pregnancy that drove her mad, it was the way she was treated because of it. Simon checked on her regularly, using an infuriating almost _baby talk_ , Jayne seemed to have a bit of a soft spot in his eyes when he looked upon her curved stomach. Even Mal, a man she trusted to lean on her, and to support her when she needed it, was ordering her out of dangerous situations! It made her feel like a piece of baggage, depending on the others and rolling around where they went. And there was nothing she hated more than being _dependent_ on another.

But for the moment, there was nothing she could do. Mal had refused her company to see Badger, instead opting to take Jayne and River. Then he'd left the rest of them to look after the ship, and to her horror, Inara and Kaylee had suggested they go _shopping_! If ever there was an affront to a woman's honour…

So here she was, with little Kaylee clutching at her hand while Inara raced ahead, peering at prices, as excited as if it were her own baby.

"Inara, we've got five. How many onesies can one baby need?"

"Now we need to find some long-sleeved ones. It can get cold on Serenity." Zoe'd never seen Inara so happy. Inara was thinking the same about her. But despite her pleasure, this was really getting out of hand. And she didn't like the area. It was mighty Alliance friendly.

"Fine Inara. You've got your onesies, your thermal suit, formula milk, bottles, diapers, and all your other random baby **zhi shaizi** , now don't you think we should really start heading back to Serenity?"

"No, Zoe's right."

"Kaylee **mei mei** , what's wrong?" Kaylee pointed outside to where a man in a long brown coat was being repeatedly slammed in the face. From the distance at which the girls stood, he looked just like Mal.

Jayne looked around Badger's place. Mal was accepting money, agreeing to something or other. Jayne didn't really care, his job was primarily to stand around looking threatening until he got paid. Which had been too long for Jayne's liking. In the big man's teeny brain, one thing was clear: the sooner Mal got paid, the sooner Jayne did. And the sooner Jayne got paid, the sooner he could send money back home to his Ma. That was how Jayne liked it. All this fugitive who can't get a single job without Alliance bein' sicked on them at every point was not how Jayne liked it. Too confuzling.

River looked vaguely upset too, though he expected money did not enter her worries. The girl was pretty, no denying it, but he would give anything to keep her away from him. God, the girl was damn creepy. There was something wrong though. He was sure of it now. She was tensed, ready to run. He may have been terrified of her, and have detested her brother, but if there was one thing he trusted more than his own instincts, it was River's instincts.

"Mal, crazies over here is getting tense." But it was too late, River was on her feet cartwheeling past the guards, and Jayne dashed after her. Mal sighed,

"'Scuse us Badger," he yanked the money from Badger's hand, "We'll get the job done like always, now I've got a Crazy girl on the loose, better go grab her 'fore she kills one of your men." He flashed a tight lipped smile, and then he was gone.

River knew the Storm wasn't dangerous. Well, he was, but not in himself. He would bring danger with him though. If only she knew how to convey that! But for the moment, he was not the danger, but was in danger. She couldn't sense how, she just knew she had to find him before he was...not dead. Something else, but she knew it was bad. She had to get to him.

"Dirty brown coat!" The Doctor was hit, again. As far as he was counting, it was the seventh time since he'd landed. He watched as they threw his coat on the ground. Damn! He liked that coat.

He'd landed in the middle of a pub. After being hit twice by an large, angry woman with a cleaver, he'd decided they weren't the friendliest crowd. Back in the TARDIS he went! Except for...not. It was locked. What in the Universe? This had never happened before! But he knew it was punishment, a lesson of some sort he supposed. Served him right, being so mopey! But he still wasn't untowardly interested in getting beaten to a pulp by a gang of frenzied humans. Then, out of the corner of his drooping eyes, he saw a girl. Pretty, slim, with wild black hair, careering towards him. She put her arms around the neck of one of his tormentors, beginning to squeeze when…

BANG!

A bullet clattered to the ground near him, but no one seemed hurt. He was confused, that was definitely a gunshot and both it and the girl from earlier looked had lethal. He looked around for the bad-shot/saviour.

Mal was confused. Just as they were finally getting a job (albeit, from Badger), Jayne and River had run off after some 'Storm'. When he finally caught up with hs wayward crew, all but Simon were standing there arguing what to do with some unconscious stupid prig in a brown coat. He had respect and all, but it was damn stupid to wander into an Alliance party in a brown coat. Not that he hadn't done it before…

It turned out that River had not been (for once) the one to save the man. Zoe and Inara, apparently mistaking the fellow for him, had fired a few shots, shoved a few of the **hundan** around, and generally scared them off, before they noticed that the young Independent was not, in fact, Mal.

"So, what do you think sir?" Zoe interrupted his reverie.

"We don't got enough money for another passenger. I say we leave him."

"But you're not Captain now are you? We take him." It wasn't just the brown-coat. Though he'd never met the man in his life, there was something about his demeanor. He couldn't leave the man on a street with a bunch of Alliance wolves surely lurking just around the corner, waiting for the scary outlaws with guns to leave. Or calling the police. Now there was a scary thought.

"Jayne? Give me a hand here." Together they hefted him up, but Mal soon left Jayne to it. Kaylee checked out the young brown-shirt. The man was light, and at second glance, painfully skinny. It had been a long day, almost six hours since they left the comfort of Serenity. She wondered what Simon had gotten up to. Simon...she wondered how her young Doctor would react to the handsome new passenger. She had no idea that she had just met her second _Doctor_.


End file.
